A woman risked her life to race back into her burning house and save her mother’s ashes.

Sian Bartley-Forsyth ran into the inferno at her bungalow just in time to save the ashes before flames engulfed the whole property.

Sian, 48, was having a lie down at roughly 5pm in her home yesterday when a neighbour banged on the door to tell her the house was on fire.

The retail manager safely escaped the house in Caerhun, Bangor, but then ran back in to save her mum’s ashes.

Sian, who lived in the house with her father Elfed Griffith, said: “We’ve lost everything now, it’s all gone. All I was able to save was the ashes. I was asleep in the bedroom when I heard banging on the door. I got up and tried to get out of the house, it was really scary.

“When I got out I could see the house was ablaze but I went back in to get my mother’s ashes – there was nothing else I could save.”

The blaze, which gutted the property and the outbuildings, was caused by an overheated bulb in an adjoining building used as a chicken shed before spreading to the bungalow and a caravan on the site.

Nearly two dozen officers were called to the inferno and Sian was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

This morning, officers returned to the scene after flames re-ignited in what was left of a bedroom in the bungalow.